| Okay, so I was away last week. To Baja to kayak on the Sea of Cortez, a trip taken to celebrate my 10th anniversary, and man! An amazing trip. It was also my first trip to Mexico, and I have to say, I enjoyed getting away from everything.
I'm not fully caught up yet, but I see the headlines blazing with Israel's invasion of Gaza - and the Patriots missed the playoffs, but the Eagles already won a playoff game? Anyway, the first thing that made me stutter-step in political news was the news that Bill Richardson withdrew as Obama's nominee for Commerce because of an investigation into the New Mexican's political dealings during his tenure as governor.
While Steve Benen wonders how Richardson slipped through the Obama transition team's vetting process, I'm left scratching my head that Richardson thought he had a shot at the presidency while this was ongoing. His chutzpah in this thing reminds me of Edwards' - running an outside chance at the Democratic nomination with a gigantic scandal hanging over his head.
Now it still may turn out that there's nothing here - but, besides Edwards', has anyone's political stock fallen as far as Richardson? He started out the campaign season as everyone's dark horse pick, then blundered his way through the early primaries, and frankly embarassed himself during the debates. He subsequently alienated himself from his closest allies - the Clintons - with an endorsement of Obama, and alienated himself from the Obama administration with this recent brouhaha. With both New Mexico Senate seats now occupied by Demcrats, there doesn't look like there's much upwards room left for the governor for the forseeable future. |
